Fri., April 29: Blues explode in Nashville with Jon Spencer’s return

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion certainly didn’t invent the blues, nor the gritty, bare-bones style of blues-rock that’s been popularized by Nashville rockers Jack White and the Black Keys. Still, it’s important to note that Spencer and his band, Blues Explosion, were doing a more daring version of that same hard-hitting, rusty riff-rock several years before White and the Keys. It might look like a “before their time” case, but Spencer and his gang’s out-there, obscured-in-static style was destined for cult fandom.

The band plays its first Nashville-area show in seven years on Friday, April 29, at Exit/In (2208 Elliston Place, 321-3340). Tickets for the 8 p.m., 18-and-older show are $24.